Mugen Souls Z
is a role-playing video game developed by Compile Heart and co-produced by GCREST as the second installment in the Mugen Souls series. It was released in Japan on April 25, 2013 for the and in Korea on October 16 2013 for Sony PlayStation 3. It is released in the west on May 20, 2014 on the PlayStation 3 as well the PlayStation Network, and released on Steam on August 25, 2016. The game plays very similar to the previous title but with a lot of fixes and plays a lot faster. Though the original game was very hardcore and takes a long time to get the platinum trophy and is very difficult to learn, Mugen Souls Z adds in a lot more features for veterans of the previous game to take advantage of and shorten their time to power up and mechanics will not need to rely as much on luck. The game begins with Chou-Chou expanding her conquest in making whole universe hers. In the previous game, Chou-Chou's ambition was to conquer the 7 Worlds representing hues of the rainbow and the 7 Days of the Week if you are familiar with the Chinese or Japanese calendar. Ryuto introduces the upgrades to the G-Castle and the appearance change which now looks like a Giant Robot, Chou-Chou was not really impressed. With these upgrades, they were able to time space travel and moving onto 12 Stars Galaxy, a representation of the tertiary hues, 12 hours of the clock, constellations or the number of months in a year. Chou-Chou is no longer the controllable in this game due to her getting absorbed into a coffin which malfunctioned. It was not able to absorb "Undisputed" Gods since it was only meant for Ultimate Gods use, the class of the Syrma in the game. Terminology changes Mugen Souls Z uses new terms despite having similar mechanics to the first game. Most of the special Chou-Chou commands from the first game slightly changed to fit with the flow of the story. Instead of conquering lands, fighting Demon Lords and Heroes, the main objective is to absorb the powers of the Ultimate Gods. Reaching 100%+ on Planet Energy from the main land will bring up the hidden ruins where some Ultimate Gods hide at. *Ultimate Soul = Peon Ball *Peon Release = Small Peon Ball *Captivate = Moe Kill *Fetish Pose = Phrase *Coax = Peon Command *Planet Spot = Master Point *Planet Energy = Peon Ratio *Whimsy = Eventful *Carnage = Tough 'Gameplay' Mugen Souls Z is a very unique in terms of gameplay. The battles are a turn based tactical RPG style. The game includes ship battles which basically comes down to a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Cut-scenes similar to most Compile Heart games where the images are moving and lip sync with the speech, they are very long. Luckily the story will not provide any information on how to play and can be skipped entirely by pushing the "R2" button. Orange infinity signs on the map indicates that there is an event and should be the main indicator of where to go which can be easily seen by bringing up the Map by pushing the "Start" button. Important gameplay mechanics will be explained via "Tutorials" so nothing important will be missed by skipping the cutscenes. Field characters can run in a 3D field and encounters are visible on the screen. It is also much easier to get a preemptive strike on this game since there is no lag on the first hit and the enemy will give a longer warning before rushing the player. 'Story progression' The ingame talk sequences has a "skip" feature by pushing the R2 button and it will not confuse players of where to go since the story mode of the game is extremely simple. All that matters for progressing through the story is viewing the "orange infinity event symbols". The gameplay purpose of the story is to provide a giant tutorial of how to play. Players who understand the function of the game's system early in the game early on will progress through the story normally while those who don't understand the game will end up doing unnecessary grinds. The battles are not anywhere near as tough as in comparison to the rest of the game and the main thing the story wants players to use is the "Captivate" system. For more information, see the Captivate article If there are no events available on the current field, then that means Planet Spots will need to be captivated. They are needed to increase her Planet Ratio in order to connect nearby stars together or weaken the Ultimate God's power. Planet Spots may ask for items, defeating a minimum amount of enemies or Captivate them but not all of them are meant to be captivate right away which is different from the first game where it took no effort to get 300% ratio on every World and continent. This game has a fair difficulty overall for the story but it can be a challenge for traditional/ classic RPG fans while the first game is too easy by itself and also gives the players more mechanics to take advantage of, making it a breeze to beat the story. 'HUD and Menu' Cursor movement and selecting is much quicker. The transitions from one menu screen to another is flawless and there are more options for the game menu and some may even effect gameplay to give the player an advantage or make things go by quicker. 'Battle System' Mugen Souls Z's battle system is based on wait time determined by the turn meter on the top of the screen but it has it's own type of gameplay. Just like the quick responses to the HUD, Menu and loading, the battle system is very smooth and there is no delay between attacks like there was in the original game. 'Blast off' Battles normally begins with 200 Blast Off Gauge when both the enemy and player are on even ground. If the player gets a pre-emptive strike on the enemy, it will bring up the gauge to 300 but if they get the player from the back, it would only be 100. Blast off can only be set when using an offensive skill. Every skill has the ability cause the Blast Off but only certain skills can cause the enemy to float which is useful to hitting the blue orbs during Fever Mode. This is one way to destroy crystals, the other way would be Fetish Pose. Be careful when using skills with high blast off, they often come with a long wait time. 'Charm Percentage' Increased by the amount of Shampuru earn. The higher the Charm Percentage, easier it is to turn enemies into Shampuru or Item. The average charm rate is often referred to as Charm Ratio. 'Fetish Pose ' For a more detailed article, see Fetish Pose. This new system is much easier to understand and less random than Moe Killing, the emotion gauge predicts how it will raise for whichever pose is chosen as seen on the video which eliminates the need to memorize the effects of each pose. Form changing in battle is not limited and can be changed once per turn without penalty. Syrma does not have the natural ability to transform or make peons like Chou-Chou but has absorbed most of Chou-Chou's powers but has to rely on the coffin to finish the job. Syrma's transformations are not different personalities but the costumes, hair colors and poses are different with each moe. Syrma has absorbed most of Chou-Chou's powers and now things are going crazy. Fetish posing is a replacement for Moe Kill but the system and it's relevance to the story is completely different. She changes forms and does poses in order to entice the enemies so they can get absorbed in the coffin. It can suck the power out of Ultimate Gods as well entire stars. JP Mugen Souls Z- Fetish Pose introduction As mentioned before, Syrma is dependent on Mr. Coffin on using her abilities and therefore the name has been changed to Ultimate God Ball (JP name) instead of Peon ball. Despite being called a ball, it actually summons Chou-Chou of various sizes depending on how much Shampurus are collected. The Peon Release have other options besides dealing damage or healing, it can now give buffs or bonuses Exp, G, Mugen Points and Shampuru. Defeating the enemies normally will not give the player any extra bonuses. Mainly used for earning more Shampurus or gaining items. Success is tied with charm percentage and the type of Moe of Syrma and the enemy. This will not be useful at all during boss battles of the first playthrough but frenzy is still a great way to earn Shampurus. Post game and Mugen Field, large crystals are not dependent on charm percentage but the moe affinity and the poses chosen. Peon- Pink Meter (increases the higher the charm level) Increases easiest by using matching or ie: Ego/ Sadist Frenzy- Blue Meter (decreases the higher the charm level) Increases easiest using the opposite Moe but not having high charm level. Item- Yellow Meter (increases the higher the charm level) 'Fever Mode' For a more detailed article, see Fever Mode (Mugen Souls Z). This mechanic is the primary means of earning "money" in this game. It is triggered by getting rid of the Large Crystal, Peon Captivating a Small Crystal or by accumulating enough Fever Points but in order for the benefits of "Fever Time" to activate, the enemy must be launched onto floating blue orbs by using a skill that can "Float". When it hits, it can give up to a 140 hit combo (35% bonus overall) and about 1,500,000G. The Fever Time animation can now be skipped making it less stressful to earn money unlike the first game. 'Damage Carnival' Replacement of the Triple Counter Stop from the original game. Damage Carnival is much easier to achieve since as it activates on the total damage dealt throughout the entire battle. It demands only breaking a third of the damage from a Triple Counter Stop and the damage will count for the entire battle verses getting all 3 counter stops of 9's in one attack like the original game. Note: This mechanic has has a relation with the Fever Mode mechanic. Upgrading this will drastically increase the payout earned for "Fever Time". 'Ultimate Soul' For a more detailed article, see Ultimate Soul. Syrma uses Chou-Chou to destroy enemies instead of a giant energy ball of Shampurus. Chou-Chou's size and the amount of damage she causes depends on the number of Peons you have. Ultimate Soul also has close ties with G-Castle stats since the amount of power they gain depends on the quality of the Shampuru. 'Crystals' Being near a crystal will grant anything near it a special effect, whether good or bad. There are two variations of crystals, small crystals and large crystals and their affect radius can be toggled on or off as well as having the effect displayed when a character or enemy is standing on one. This comes in handy and cuts the time of cycling through every crystal on the screen and wonder what advantage the enemy is having. 'Ship Battles' The G-Castle no longer looks like the G-Castle form the original game, it is now a giant Humanoid robot. Ship battles through the story are not as tough as they were but the ones in the Mugen Field are always challenging since they now match your strength. The new G-Castle no longer learns spells by earning Shampuru, now it will require G-Parts to upgrade your ship by selling components and buying them through the weapon store. Spending enough tickets can unlock the ability to fight onboard incase the ship battles are nearly impossible to win on higher bets. 'Mugen Field' For a more detailed article, see Mugen Field (Mugen Souls Z). A place to fight a series of battles and progresses in difficulty and rewards the more the player progresses. It cannot be taken advantage early like the original game as Ship battles and Slumbering bosses are much tougher but the payout is high. Higher floors and routes now have to be unlocked from the Mugen Shop by spending tickets. The Mugen Rest Areas on floors 10, 30, 60 and 100 have been revamped in Mugen Souls Z to allow control of the character to view events, find secret treasure/ shops. At the end of each Rest Area there exists a guaranteed optional boss waiting at the end who gives great rewards and drops a giant treasure chest at end. Battles in the Mugen Field are no longer fought on the standard space scenery but use random backgrounds from the main story instead. 'Matter' For a list of Matter that can be found in '''Mugen Souls Z', see Matter list (Mugen Souls Z).'' These items can be made by dismantling equipment. There is probably no new matter added to the game but they are much easier to get and the new inventory stacking system allows an infinite storage for weapons space to make a lot more of them. 'Peon Creation' Certain peons must be fused with other classes in order to wear more clothes. They only earn one and one conditional through levels. They are not meant to be used early on, unlike the original game, Mugen Souls Z includes an English track for the peons. 'Peon Fusion' Resets the characters levels to 1 and gain abilities, stat bonus % and clothing. Development Mugen Souls Z was teased back in December 2012 from Dengeki Playstation and the official website opened around January 2013. The overall producer of the game is Keiji "Shooting Star" Inafune who appeared in many comical promo videos going on dates, peaking at nude ladies' at the hot springs, dreaming about designing a good character and other crazy things. Kei Nanameda and Katsuyuki Hirano are the two main artists who belong to Idea Factory but the game also features special guest character designers. Inafune Keiji comes to no surprise as he designed some characters for the original Mugen Souls but a new artist, A-10, has designed the old Capricorn lady named Onluka. The CEO of Idea Factory International, Harusato Akenaga, supervised the development of Mugen Souls Z for an overseas release. See Gematsu's article on External Links The two main composers for the game will be Kaneko Kenji and Sato Tenpei who also worked on the original Mugen Souls. Kaneko Kenji is the main composer for the Neptunia series as well as the Mugen Souls series so the music for both games will sound familiar. Sato Tenpei is a veteran videogame composer and is famous for his works on the Disgaea franchise. He composed all of the music which has vocals such as the opening, fever time songs, some stages and the G-Castle themes. Like the original game, GCREST has worked with Compile Heart on this title with making the character creation system. On November 22nd 2013, NIS America has announced that they will be releasing the game in Spring 2014 along with Hyperdimension Neptune: PP the day after. The game is speculated to have a day one digital release along with physical copies. Unlike the previous title, PREAPP Productions will be licensing the game for the localized released instead of being both licensed and published by NIS America. Plot The new world in this galaxy happens to belong to Syrma who happens to be the Ultimate God of the 12 Worlds Galaxy . Chou-Chou and her peon Ryuto defeat Syrma and Nao in battle but in the end the loser happens to be the one who won. Chou-Chou's greed and curiosity for wanting the coffin which she was warned not to touch has caused her to lose all of her powers and become tiny. With most of Chou-Chou's powers gone, she is now useless and her powers have been transferred to the Syrma who the player now controls. In order for Chou-Chou to gain all of her powers back, they must absorb the other Ultimate Gods on the other Stars which benefits the main character by regaining her lost powers. Some of the powers give the player extra platform elements such jumping, flying, swimming, getting treasure etc. Chou-Chou wants to conquer the universe anyways so both sides win. See Ultimate Fusion To make the conquest go faster, Chou-Chou sent all of the characters from the previous game, excluding Ryuto, to the other 11 Stars to search for the other Ultimate Gods and each star should give about 2 members per chapter. Added features and improvements There are many differences and a lot of features added to the game that weren't in the original game such as: *More parts to make customizable characters, about three times for every clothing article, faces and hair. *Incase you want to wear mismatched clothing for stats, there is an option in the menu to fixate the character appearances to their default clothing. *Damage Carnival activates with only one maxed out set of 9's accumulated damage throughout the battle. Triple Counter Stop in the original game was impossible compared to this. *100% access to tutorials, also they are not done in the same Explanatory Shampuru method as it was in the original game *Pressing the R1 button is a shortcut key to use the "Warding Powder" to avoid encounters instead of through the menu *Entire events can now be skipped with the R2 button *Fever Time animation can be skipped. *Character stat up value% are no longer difficult to increase, it can raise up to 40% even with a 1% stat up difference. The original game would only increase 1% if there's a 1% difference. *Stat up values cap increased from 600%+ to a 1000%+ maximum *Unlike the original game when Chou-Chou was the only one who can charm foes, Syrma also has the ability to do it. *Form switching is no longer limited to the average charm level. Can switch forms in battle anytime with no penalty *Defeating enemies no longer increases the risk of a coffin explosion. Now keeping a full party plus the main character won't be as risky in the Mugen Field. *Fetish posing, the new version of Moe Kill, is easier to learn and less random. Enemies are also much easier to charm but the story mode Star Points are still as difficult as Moe Kill from the original game. *New classes and skills. Peons job tiers now have different color swaps to distinguish a class by their tier. *Added platform elements and obstacles such as jumping, super jumping, treasure chests in the air, keys, flying over small gaps and water etc as story progresses. *Can now view the enemies skills and abilities, useful for preparing for a better skill setup for difficult battles such as the Challenge Worlds *Challenge Worlds to test your skills at the game's battle system *Ticket system where you can unlock new things or buy permanent buffs to shorten your grinding time such as 2x shampuru, 500% EXP etc. *Inventory overhaul, items do not stack individual so there's no need to ever worry about clearing item space *An option in the game menu to autosell components instead of having to do it manually *Feature to use your own custom images on your peon characters from the PS3 or from the game *Ability to unlock fighting on-board an enemy ship in the Mugen Field incase the G-Castle isn't strong enough *Chance to set your running speed after one playthrough *True Ending requirement cut down drastically, only 15% charm of each moe vs 20% from the original game *High charm levels are no longer a requirement for accessing the toughest battles for earning Shampurus, they are unlocked simply by completing and going onto the next one. *Hidden Treasure Chest reveal themselves when Planet Points reach 300%. Gallery Images Scarlet World.jpg|Scarlet World|link=Scarlet World You are so cute.jpg|The first hotspring scene. Normal Package Z.png|Normal Package for Mugen Souls Z Limited Edition Package Z.png|Limited Edition Mugen Souls Z package Dengeki Spread.png|Dengeki Magazine Spread Trivia * In Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation, Neptune can be seen playing a game that happens to be Mugen Souls Z. * The release date for Mugen Souls Z was April 25 2013, which was Compile Heart's last release before the beginning of Golden Week 2013. * The map shapes often resemble the constellations they are based off. * Some bath minigame CGs are unlockable on the English version and can be seen after beating the doppelganger post game. * Two pieces of equipment: the Dueling Knuckles and Yo-Gi-Uh Card are based off of the Duel Disk and cards of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchise. * Auto-advancing text in the English version is a bit more delayed compared to the KR and JP versions possibly because of the fast auto-advancing problems the first game had during an unvoiced 3D talk scene. * The KR and EN versions of Mugen Souls Z uses version 1.01 of the game as a base. Lists #Component list (Mugen Souls Z) #G-Parts list (Mugen Souls Z) #Weapon list (Mugen Souls Z) #Armor list (Mugen Souls Z) #Mugen Souls Z Downloadable Content #Matter list (Mugen Souls Z) External links *NIS America interview *Official site *GameFAQs *2012 Mugen Souls Z (JP) announcement from Gematsu Category:Mugen Souls Z Category:Games